Alveda King, the niece of Martin Luther King Jr., declares an end to violence and hate as cities all over the country are pillaged in the name of protesting.
“As we see cities burning across America following the senseless killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on Monday (May 25), there is a cry to heaven going up across America: Lord, please heal our land! It is a cry for unity, for social justice, for safety and for an end to hatred,” says King in a Fox News opinion piece.
George Floyd, 46, was an unarmed black man accused of passing a counterfeit $20 bill and was arrested. When white police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nine minutes, Floyd died from asphyxiation. The attorney for George Floyd’s family, Benjamin Crump, confirms that an independent autopsy “determined that asphyxiation from sustained pressure was the cause” of Floyd’s death.
Chauvin is charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter and a firestorm of violent riots around the country followed.
Says King, “There is a unique opportunity for leaders of our families, our communities and our nation to open our stadiums, town halls, sanctuaries, and social media streams to invite people to stop panicking and stop fighting and breathe.”
The King Rules author adds that in America we are in a season of repentance and revival. “It is very important for spiritual leaders to lead the way in repentance and prayer; especially with the violence erupting out of Minneapolis spreading destruction across the country like wildfire.”
She says she is saddened yet undaunted that a quote from her Uncle Martin is being taken out of context. The prophet said that “violence is the language of the unheard.”
“Some people are calling this an endorsement of violence, but nothing could be further from the truth. MLK spoke those words in defense of non-violence; he refused to promote violence as a solution to the ills of society,” King continues.
Martin Luther King preached love, not hate; peace, not violence; and universal brotherhood, not racism. in 1963, he says: “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”
The Bible tells us: “God made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find God. God doesn’t play hide-and-seek with us. God’s not remote; God’s near. We live and move in God, can’t get away from God! One of your poets said it well: ‘We’re the God-created.’ Well, if we are the God-created, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to think we could hire a sculptor to chisel a God out of stone for us, does it?” (Acts 17:24-29)
George Floyd’s brother Terrence says he feels like violent protests are “overshadowing what is going on because he was about peace …. [this is] destructive unity. That’s not what he was about.”
People are human beings with so much more “uniting us than dividing us,” says King , who also serves on the pastoral team of Priests for Life, as Executive Director of its outreach called Civil Rights for the Unborn.
–Corine Gatti-Santillo